Dirhodium catalysts have played a prominent role in the metal-catalyzed reactions of diazo compounds. Effort has been made to prepare various chiral dirhodium tetracarboxylate and dirhodium tetracarboxamidate catalysts. A series of prolinate-based dirhodium catalysts, such as Rh2(S-DOSP)4 (See FIG. 1, compound 1), have been prepared and examined for their capacity to induce asymmetric induction in the reactions of donor/acceptor carbenoids. See Davies et al., JACS, 1996, 118:6897-6907. The asymmetric induction in these catalyzed reactions is sensitive to solvent and substrate structure. Asymmetric induction with Rh2(S-DOSP)4 as catalyst requires the use of a methyl ester as the acceptor group in the carbenoid and nonpolar solvents such as hydrocarbons. The phthalimidocarboxylate Rh2(S-PTAD)4 (See FIG. 1, compound 2) and the bridged dicarboxylate catalyst, Rh2(S-biTISP)2 (See FIG. 1, compound 3) may be prepared by relatively tedious synthetic routes. Thus, there is a need for improved catalysts.